MSS: Gabrielle Bishop

Gabrielle Bishop was one of the stars of last weekend’s Virginia Independent Schools’ state championships, and she talks about her final high school meet on today's edition of The Morning Swim Show. Bishop broke two meet records, in the 100 and 200 freestyle, and she talks about how her swims and those of her teammates helped Nansemond-Suffolk Academy get second place in the division two standings. She also talks about her club team and why she picked Virginia Tech for college.

(Note: This is an automated service where some typos and grammatical errors may occur.)

Peter Busch: Welcome to the Morning Swim Show for Wednesday, February 22nd, 2012. I'm your host Peter Busch. In the FINIS Monitor today we'll talk to Gabrielle Bishop. She just won two individual events and set two meet records at the Virginia Independent High School State Championship Meet. Gabrielle joins us right now in the FINIS Monitor from Suffolk, Virginia. Gabrielle, welcome to the Morning Swim Show. How are you?

Gabrielle Bishop: Good, thank you.

Peter Busch: Hey, congratulations on the great swims. We watched them live here on Swimming World TV. It was an event that we were live streaming. Two state records for you. That's incredible.

Gabrielle Bishop: Yes, sir.

Peter Busch: So the 200 free, 1:49.2, if I recall correctly, right?

Gabrielle Bishop: Yes.

Peter Busch: And then leading off your 4 by 100 freestyle relay"51-flat?

Gabrielle Bishop: Yes, sir.

Peter Busch: All right. Were those the goal times?

Gabrielle Bishop: Yes. Just going into it I was just hoping that I could get close to my best times coz I wasn't shaved or really tapered at all for this meet. So going in I just wanted to go as fast as I possibly could and if that was best times, then I'll exactly get them.

Peter Busch: Not shaved or tapered, really?

Gabrielle Bishop: Yes, sir.

Peter Busch: What are you holding out for?

Gabrielle Bishop: Senior champs and then juniors later on in March.

Peter Busch: Is that where you hope to make Olympic trial cuts? Coz it looks like you're pretty close.

Gabrielle Bishop: Yes, sir, that's where I'm hoping, coz for finals at junior nationals they are turning the pool into a long course pool to give everyone the chance to get their trials cuts.

Gabrielle Bishop: We did really well. Everyone went best times, we set a lot of new school records. We ended up placing second in our division. So our coach is very happy with all of our performances.

Peter Busch: How come coach didn't want you shaved and tapered?

Gabrielle Bishop: Because she realizes what comes first for my swimming, but she also wants me to perform well for the high school team and she knew that I could do that no matter what the circumstances were. So she trusts me enough to make my own decisions in that regard.

Peter Busch: So you have a pretty good relationship, it sounds like, between your club coach and your high school coach.

Gabrielle Bishop: Yes, sir.

Peter Busch: Tell us about your club team.

Gabrielle Bishop: I swim for Old Dominion Aquatic Club. The head coach is Steve Bialorucki. I just started swimming for them about a year and a half ago and it's worked out ever since. I love that team and the people. They made me feel right at home since I joined. And I'm so glad I picked them for my junior and senior years.

Gabrielle Bishop: Both my sisters went there. One already graduated and one is graduating this year. They both have loved it. They both come back telling me how great a school it is, all the friends they'd made that will be in their lives forever. And whenever I went up there for a recruiting trip, I just felt that family aspect on the team and I completely bonded with them very quickly. And it was just easy to go along with everyone especially the coaches. They made me feel right at home.

Peter Busch: Did your sisters swim as well?

Gabrielle Bishop: No, they both just studied, but they swam in high school.

Peter Busch: Okay, so what is the ceiling for you? What do you think?

Gabrielle Bishop: Not really sure. I'm having to take it wherever I can go whether it's, like, beyond college or it ends after my fourth year in college. It doesn't really matter.

Peter Busch: Do you go into college with -- I mean, everybody hopes that they can be an NCAA All American, for example, but do you believe you have that kind of talent?

Gabrielle Bishop: I hope. I believe I can do that one day. My coaches have already told me what's my potential, my stroke, with everything they can do with me. I believe fully in me that I'll be able to do that and become anything that I want to do someday.

Peter Busch: Well, we look forward to seeing that play out over the next few years. How about in school, anything particular you wanna study?

Gabrielle Bishop: I really like the math and sciences. I'm thinking about taking an engineering route, but I'm going in my first year as undecided just to, like, see what happens.

Peter Busch: Yeah, well, you're gonna have a busy next four years.

Gabrielle Bishop: Uh-hm.

Peter Busch: Well, Gabrielle, thank you very much for joining us. Congratulations once again on breaking a couple school records there in Virginia.

Gabrielle Bishop: Thank you.

Peter Busch: All right, that's Gabrielle Bishop joining us in the FINIS Monitor from Suffolk, Virginia. And that is it for today's show. I'm Peter Busch reminding you to keep your head down at the finish.